Chunky Cheesey Potato Soup

Another $3 meal. This is a family favorite. We eat potato soup a couple of times a month. Everyone looks forward to it. Sometimes we use polish sausage instead of bacon but the general recipe is always the same.

I should have mentioned with the first $3 meal, that my meals are based on Aldi prices.

First take 1/2 a bag of potatoes and chop them up. Leaving skins on for me depends on the type of potatoes. Today I am using gold potatoes that Aldi had on sale so the skins stay on. Total cost for potatoes: $0.99

I throw them in a big pot (I use my pressure cooker because it is the biggest pot I have) with some water and 1/2 a bag of frozen corn ($0.49)I also chop up 1/2 an onion and put that in. I only use 1/2 an onion because my girls are not huge fans so it is less for them to pick around. ($0.07)

While that is boiling, I cook 4 slices of bacon until they are crispy. Use your favorite method. I reccomend baking it in the oven for the easiest burn free method, but I am in a hurry so I nuked mine in the microwave.


Mmmmmmmm. Bacon. ($0.63)

I also use this time to shred the 3 oz cheese. ($0.56) If you are using pre-shredded cheese you can skip this step but I always buy block cheese. It tastes better to me.
When the potatoes are done, drain most of the water. You want just enough in there to cover the potatoes. Add in 1 cup of milk ($0.12), 1 tsp garlic powder ($0.02), 1 tsp oregano ($0.02) and salt and pepper to taste ($0.01) Crumble in the bacon, and stir in the cheese until melted. At this point add in 1/4 cup or so of potato flakes ($0.05) How much you actually end up with depends on how thick you want it. You can also use a handheld blender to puree some of the potatoes to thicken it up. I just like lots of chunks.

In the end you have this


for a total cost of $2.95